ATLANTA — Quinn Ewers is not the perfect quarterback, and that, for some Texas fans, may be his biggest flaw.
Although he entered college football with one of the highest recruiting rankings in modern history, and has prototype measurables and an NFL future, so much of his career as a Longhorn — as far as outsiders are concerned, at least — has been defined by what he’s not.
He’s not an All-American and hasn’t been a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. He isn’t always accurate on downfield throws. Nobody confuses him with the most athletic players on the field or at his position. There’s a segment of fans anxious to see what life after Ewers looks like once his backup Arch Manning, with the golden arm and famous last name, takes the starting job.
But none of that mattered when Texas faced fourth-and-13 with its season on the brink in the first overtime of Wednesday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Peach Bowl. When tension reached its peak inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and Texas’ Lombardi- and Outland-winning left tackle Kelvin Banks committed a false start penalty to make the season-saving task that much tougher, it was Ewers who settled everyone down, dropping back and launching a throw that will forever live in Longhorn lore.
He stood at the 34-yard line, patiently checking the play with tens of thousands of Arizona State fans hollering, “Zombie Nation” blaring over the stadium speakers and the Sun Devils’ defensive front hovering at the line of scrimmage. The Longhorns had done this before, in practice earlier in the week, against a similar defensive look. Ewers adjusted to max protection to pick up the six-man rush. Then he launched a dart to Matthew Golden in the end zone to keep Texas alive.
Then Ewers threw another touchdown pass to Gunnar Helm moments later to open the second overtime, plus a two-point conversion to Golden, before Andrew Mukuba’s interception punched the Longhorns’ ticket to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Ewers’ epic game-ending sequence in Texas’ 39-31 win over Arizona State allowed everyone in burnt orange and white to exhale and maybe, just maybe, appreciate him a little bit more.
“Quinn’s a G, man,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said afterward. “He never gets really high. … He never gets too low.”
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That was never more important than Wednesday, when the Longhorns allowed a game they had a stranglehold on early in the fourth quarter to completely slip from their grip. After a quick start led to an early 14-3 lead, Ewers and the offense left much to be desired for the rest of regulation. The Longhorns didn’t get the ball often, and when they did, they didn’t do much with it.
Entering the fourth quarter, Texas had run 27 offensive plays for 141 yards (while Arizona State had run 68), had seven first downs and converted just one of six third down attempts. Ewers led a fourth-quarter scoring drive that gave Texas some breathing room, scrambling for a 5-yard touchdown run to make it 24-8 with 10:17 to go.
Then it all fell apart. The scrappy Sun Devils used a trick play to cut the lead in half, and Ewers, trying to find Isaiah Bond on a post route on the ensuing possession, left too much air under his deep ball, allowing cornerback Javan Robinson to undercut it and pick it off. Arizona State turned that into a game-tying touchdown drive, flipping the game on its head in less than six minutes.
It’s around then that some Texas fans began to lose it.
#Texas is tied late in the fourth. Hopefully they just lose so they can move on from Quinn Ewers. #MeltdownAlert pic.twitter.com/TPHLTa3vom
— Message Board Geniuses (@BoardGeniuses) January 1, 2025
But from that point forward, Ewers showed why Sarkisian has stuck with him over Manning and why the Longhorns believe in Ewers so much. Here’s what he did in the final five minutes of regulation and the two overtime periods:
- Drove Texas into go-ahead field goal range with 1:44 left (kicker Bert Auburn missed from 48 yards).
- With 57 seconds left, drove the Longhorns again into field goal range, to the Arizona State 20 for a game-winning field goal attempt (Auburn missed another as time expired, this time from 38).
- Threw the touchdown pass to Golden to keep Texas alive in the first overtime.
- Threw the touchdown pass to Helm on the first play of the second overtime to take the lead.
- Found Golden for a two-point conversion.
- Went 11 for 14 passing for 160 yards.
All this on a day when the Longhorns’ running game was virtually nonexistent, finishing with 53 yards on 30 attempts.
“Quinn is a dog,” running back Quintrevion Wisner said. “Anytime we need him, we know he’s going to come through because that’s who he is.”
And that’s why Sarkisian and the Longhorns have faith in him, even if everyone else remains skeptical. That’s not to say some criticism isn’t warranted. In some ways, he embodies what Texas has been as a team this year: very good, but far from perfect.
In a world where quarterbacks are under even more scrutiny than ever, with seven-figure name, image and likeness deals and the desire for instant results, Ewers has been among the most scrutinized in the last three years. But he has largely delivered what Texas fans hoped for three years ago when he arrived as a transfer from Ohio State: wins. Texas is now 27-8 in games Ewers has started since 2022. Only two quarterbacks have won more games as a starter than Ewers in that time span: Dillon Gabriel (29-9) and Memphis’ Seth Henigan (28-11).
Texas is two steps away from its first national championship since 2005, and Ewers is one of the biggest reasons why. But so much of the rhetoric around Ewers, even in the days leading up to the Peach Bowl, was about his future. Ewers is widely expected to enter the NFL Draft, even though he’s not a projected first-round pick in the eyes of some NFL scouts. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler said scouts’ grades range from the second to fourth round, but his Playoff performance could impact those. On3 reported this week that Ewers had a $6 million offer to stay in school and enter the transfer portal.
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The present, which is pretty good, seems lost in all of this. Ewers took a massive step toward cementing his Texas legacy by leading the Longhorns’ season away from the cliff and keeping them alive in their title chase. He has played through an oblique injury and has a heavily taped ankle from a lingering late-season ailment. Maybe it’s time to start appreciating what he has done for the Longhorns — leading them to consecutive Playoff appearances, conference title game appearances, big road wins at Alabama and Michigan — instead of pining so much for the future.
The ride is undeniably a roller coaster. Ewers’ elite ball placement in short areas is marveling, and he can make picturesque throws like his 29-yard strike to Golden down the right sideline early in the fourth quarter. That’s what makes every underthrown deep ball maddening. But in three years, the Ewers experience at Texas has been mostly positive.
“Quinn’s a leader,” safety Jahdae Barron said. “He’s been leading us this whole time. … He strives to be perfect, but he wants everybody else to be perfect.”
As he has multiple times this season, Ewers cited his faith for providing him a steady foundation: “I just try to be that calm within the storm for all the guys, and I think that my relationship with Jesus has helped me in that specific way of knowing that, no matter what happens, he’s going to be there for me. He’s still going to love me.”
There’s plenty Ewers can improve in the coming weeks. If Texas is to beat an explosive Ohio State team in the Cotton Bowl, he’ll probably need to be more on-target with downfield throws and avoid the type of turnover he committed in Wednesday’s fourth quarter.
But when the chips are down and the Longhorns need a play, Ewers showed Wednesday night why his team trusts him to deliver it.
“Sure, there’s moments of frustration that we all have, but the guy recalibrates so quickly,” Sarkisian said. “He’s so calm that it allows me to lean on him in the most critical moments, especially tonight.”
(Photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
